English Guy Picking US College! Help!

College Search & Selection
1

Hello! I am a British student studying in England.

I have the opportunity to study abroad at an American college for a year.

Cost isn’t an issue, it’s all paid for.

Prestige isn’t either as it doesn’t count to my final degree.

Which institution would give me the best experience overall?

I like hot girls, nice weather, and really want to experience American college life to it’s fullest extent, and American life overall. It’s always been a dream to study in the USA.

So which would be the best experience overall in your opinion.

Thanks in advance!

Here is the list:

University of Alaska at Fairbanks

Arizona State University

University of Arkansas
(including The Walton Business School)

Beloit College

University of British Columbia

Brooklyn College

University of California:

Berkeley

Davis

Irvine

Santa Cruz

San Diego

UCLA

California State University at Monterey Bay

College of Charleston

University of Colorado

Elon University

Florida State University

Georgetown University

University of Georgia

Georgia Institute of Technology

University of Kentucky

Louisiana State University

University of Massachusetts

Mercer University

University of Miami (Florida)

University of Michigan

Mount Holyoke College

University of North Carolina at Asheville

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Northern Arizona University (NAU)

Occidental College

Oregon State University

Pennsylvania State

University of Pittsburgh

Purdue University

Reed College

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute

University of Rochester

Roosevelt University

Rutgers, State University of New Jersey

Spelman College

State University of New York at Stony Brook

University of Texas

Tulane University

University of Vermont

Washington University

University of Washington, Seattle

2

Some of those schools are much more selective than the rest. Do you know if you can get into Michigan or Wash U, for example? Do you have ACT or SAT score? What are your grades in college?

3

Hey mate, I can get into every single college on the list. It’s a study abroad programme with my university in the UK. I don’t need ACT or SAT scores.

4

Sounds like a big school, with big time sports, great college town, is what you might be looking for. Some of the schools on the list that fit that would be: UCLA and Cal Berkeley (to a certain extent), University of Georgia, University of Michigan, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, University of Texas, Florida State, Penn State.

Also really great experiences, but with a different twist, might include Univ Vermont – Burlington is a great town, great access to winter sports, but not a big college sports scene. NAU is close to amazing hiking and nature but probably doesn’t check a lot of your boxes.

Mounty Holyoke is all-women’s college, I’m guessing by your user name (Matt) that you may not be eligible to attend as a visiting student. Reed is known to be very intense academically, sports are irrelevant there. Purdue is an excellent engineering/STEM school but known more for its hard working students than for its party scene. Spelman is an historically black college/university, all women, so again, if your user name indicates male, then it is not presumably an option.

Those are all fine schools on the list, but not all meet your desired criteria. Hope this gives you some ideas of where to focus.

5

Mt. Holyoke is a women’s college.

6

My $.02 - there’s a bunch I wouldn’t even consider. Top choices might include:

UC Berkeley
UCLA
University of Colorado (Boulder only)
Georgetown University
University of Michigan
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
University of Texas (Austin only)
Tulane University
University of Washington, Seattle

Good luck!

7

Note that Mount Holyoke and Spelman are women’s colleges.

Since most of your seem to be non-academic, any of the University of California schools would meet your needs, as well as Arizona State, U Colorado-Boulder, University of Texas, Tulane, University of Washington, U NorthCarolina at Chapel Hill, Louisiana State, U Michigan to name a few.

The schools on your list represent a huge variety of schools. How do you plan on narrowing your choices?
Do you know which part of the US you’d prefer to be? Will weather affect your choice? What about your major/programme? Will you be well served academically during the year you’re away from your home school?

8

Based on OPs criteria, ASU, UCLA and UCSD would be obvious candidates. Or any of the schools that are part of the SEC as it sounds like academics are sort of tertiary to the overall experience, although if class attendance is required and credit is given, then there might be some issues.

American colleges are different in their approach to academics. I would advise the OP do some more research as well.

9

I would think going to Fairbanks would check all your boxes :wink:

10

Plug for Boulder, U of Colorado has a lot of beautiful girls, from California, and outdoorsy girls from Colorado, so if you want 4 season weather, try U of Colorado Boulder. Its a college town near a medium sized city, Denver, with a lot of hiking and skiing, and parties.

Rutgers U in New Jersey is only 30 minutes from NYC, and a fun school. Its in a suburb town thats on a river,
and lots of parties and students who like to party go to Rutgers, also lots of international students, because New Jersey has one of the highest immigrant populations in the USA. Students from China, Pakistan, India, all settle in NJ and end up at Rutgers.

Do not under any circumstances go to Fairbanks Alaska. Its about 3000 miles from the rest of the USA.

Any school in California will meet your criteria.

Reed College is a small liberal arts college in the city of Portland, Oregon, with a lot of rain, but great skiing and hiking nearby.

Don’t go to the tech schools on your list, RPI in Troy NY or GaTech, unless you want to study a lot. Berkeley will be harder than other U of California campuses, I would choose Irvine for southern Cal or UC Davis in the Sierra Nevada foothills, for ease of passing.

Berkeley is an Ivy League/Georgia Tech type of difficulty, so I would skip Berkeley for your case.

11

Florida State in Tallahassee might be a good choice. Tallahassee is ten minutes from beautiful Gulf of Mexico beaches and a really big party school. It also happens to have the National Magnet Lab, a physics lab, and very good College of Music if either of those interest you, beyond parties and dating. Florida State is not the most rigorous school on your list, but has great weather, and wonderful campus life.
Florida has some of the best beaches in the USA, California beaches up north are rocky and cold, and the Pacific Ocean is just too cold to swim in, but San Diego and LA have swimmable famous beaches.

Santa Cruz is too far north to swim in the Pacific Ocean. But UC Santa Cruz is a true California hippy town and some students there live in campers! Might be a good west coast experience for you. Academics are better at Davis in the foothills or Irvine which is over near Disneyland in Los Angeles area. (not near beach like UCLA).
UCLA will have tougher academics , hard to pass classes, its a very highly ranked academic school.

12

If you are interested in being near NYC the only two on the list that are very close are Stony Brook and Rutgers. Both 45 minute or so ride on a train.

13

You will get better advice if you tell us more about your academic and personal interests.

14

The University of Miami will check off all the boxes. South Beach, big time sports, hot weather, and female companionship.

15

SEC schools are all big football, with a large Greek presence. Schools with greek life are going to generally be more party oriented.

Reed definitely not.

I would say UGA, Kentucky, Arizona. Arkansas, Florida State and LSU.

My vote is for LSU. Big football, big Greek life, nice weather, chill environment, and they have plenty of partying and you get Mardi Gras.

16

OP, the world is your oyster…you’re the rare bird here at CC. You can go wherever you want and scores/money don’t play into it. Hmmm…well, this is a fun one…where would I go for an all-american experience… this all really reminds me of that scene in Love Actually where the British guy Collin wants to come to the U.S. to have better luck with beautiful girls (and it works…lol)… I think I would either do San Diego or Chapel Hill (UNC).

17

These schools are all so vastly different from one another! What would be your dream “American” experience? SoCal beaches? Western big skies? Mountains? Eastern classic brick-and-ivy campuses? Brainy academics or social whirls?

18

We are having too much fun with your life! I take back my previous comment. Brooklyn College dosent have beaches or Greek life but it is in New York City if you are so inclined. I am not biased. Easy to travel anywhere from here.

19

Hard to say where to go for an “all-american” experience. It’s a big country with a lot of different regions and cultures. But if you like nice weather, Los Angeles would be the place to go.

20

Chapel Hill North Carolina is the quintessential college town and beautiful, as is Boulder, Colorado. You may want to study US geography and decide if you want to be near 14,000 foot peaks in Colorado, a beach in Florida or California, or New York City/New Jersey/Long Island NY, for urban fun. New York City and Los Angeles are the biggest cities in the USA, but vastly different. NY being more similar to London in some ways. East coast of USA is more “European” and older, very dense urban areas in New Jersey (Rutgers) and Long Island near Manhattan.